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Compare Azure certification levels, exam codes, purpose, audience, indicative difficulty, focus areas and exam cost.
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Independent Certification Reference LearningQuiz Quick Reference: Azure Certification Levels & Costs
Compare Azure certification levels, exam codes, purpose, audience, indicative difficulty, focus areas and exam cost. Prices were last checked in October 2026; always confirm on Microsoft Learn before booking.
All
Fundamentals
Associate
Expert
Specialty
Level | Certification | Exam | Primary purpose | Typical audience | Difficulty | Main focus | Exam cost
Fundamentals | Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals | AZ-900 | Cloud and Azure fundamentals | Beginners, developers, IT professionals | Beginner | Cloud concepts, Azure architecture, services, management & governance | $99 / ₹3,691*
Fundamentals | Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals | AI-901 | AI fundamentals on Azure | AI beginners, developers | Beginner | AI concepts, Azure AI services, generative AI | $99 / ₹3,691*
Fundamentals | Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals | DP-900 | Data fundamentals on Azure | Data beginners, developers | Beginner | Relational/non-relational data, analytics workloads | $99 / ₹3,691*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate | AZ-104 | Administer Azure environments | Azure administrators / cloud engineers | Intermediate | Identity, governance, storage, compute, networking, monitoring | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate | AZ-204
Retired | Develop Azure applications | Cloud / application developers | Intermediate | Azure compute, storage, APIs, authentication, monitoring | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate | AZ-700 | Design and implement Azure networking | Network / cloud engineers | Intermediate | VNet, hybrid connectivity, routing, load balancing, security | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate | DP-300 | Administer Azure database services | Database administrators | Intermediate | Azure SQL, performance, security, HA, automation | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate | DP-100
Retired | Build and operate ML solutions | Data scientists / ML engineers | Intermediate | Azure Machine Learning, training, deployment, monitoring | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate | AI-102
Retired | Build AI solutions on Azure | AI engineers / developers | Intermediate | Azure AI services, generative AI, NLP, vision, agents | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate | AZ-500
Retired | Implement Azure security controls | Cloud security engineers | Intermediate | Identity, platform protection, data, security operations | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure Databricks Data Engineer Associate | DP-750
Beta | Implement data engineering with Azure Databricks | Data engineers | Intermediate | Databricks, Spark, pipelines, governance, analytics | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate | AI-103 | Build AI applications and agents | AI / application developers | Intermediate | Azure AI, agents, orchestration, responsible AI | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate | AI-200 | Develop cloud-native AI solutions | Cloud / AI developers | Intermediate | Azure compute, AI workloads, cloud-native development | $165* / ₹4,865*
Associate | Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate | SC-500
Beta | Secure cloud and AI environments | Security engineers | Intermediate | Security controls, identity, threat protection, AI security | $165* / ₹4,865*
Expert | Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert | AZ-305 | Design enterprise Azure architectures | Solution / cloud architects | Advanced | Identity, governance, data, networking, business continuity, migrations | $165* / ₹4,865*
Expert | Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert | AZ-400 | Design and implement DevOps practices | DevOps / platform engineers | Advanced | CI/CD, source control, infrastructure as code, observability | $165* / ₹4,865*
Expert | Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert | SC-100 | Design enterprise cybersecurity strategies | Security architects | Advanced | Zero Trust, governance, security architecture, SOC | $165* / ₹4,865*
Specialty | Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty | AZ-120
Check status | Design and operate SAP on Azure | SAP / cloud architects | Intermediate | SAP workloads, infrastructure, HA, migration, operations | $165* / ₹4,865*
Specialty | Microsoft Certified: Azure Cosmos DB Developer Specialty | DP-420 | Specialized Cosmos DB development | Developers / data engineers | Intermediate | Cosmos DB development and optimization | $165* / ₹4,865*
Specialty | Microsoft Certified: Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty | AZ-140 | Specialized virtual desktop administration | Azure / desktop administrators | Intermediate | Azure Virtual Desktop deployment and management | $165* / ₹4,865*
Suggested Azure career path
AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals → AZ-104 Administrator / AI-200 Cloud Developer (replaces AZ-204) → AZ-305 Solutions Architect Expert
Specialize with AI / Data / Security / Networking / DevOps / Database certifications.
Cost & certification notes
Microsoft sets exam prices by the country or region where the exam is proctored. Fundamentals exams are typically $99 (₹3,691 in India); Associate, Expert and most Specialty exams are typically $165 (₹4,865 in India). The India figures come from Microsoft Q&A community pages, so confirm the amount on the exam page with your country selected. Taxes may apply, and discounts exist.
Some certifications require more than one exam, so the listed per-exam amount is not necessarily the total certification cost. Role-based and specialty certifications generally require renewal; Microsoft says eligible certifications can be renewed at no cost through an online assessment.
Exam changes to know about
Microsoft announced a wave of replacements in 2026. Planned retirement dates: DP-100 on 1 June (replaced by AI-300, a new MLOps exam that was in beta), AI-102 and the AI-900 exam on 30 June (replaced by AI-103 and AI-901), AZ-204 on 31 July (replaced by AI-200) and AZ-500 on 31 August (replaced by SC-500). The Azure AI Fundamentals certification stays; only its exam changes to AI-901. AZ-800 and AZ-801 are being merged into AZ-802.
These dates come from a third-party summary of Microsoft's announcements published in April 2026, so confirm each one on Microsoft Learn before you plan around it.
Original reference material, not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Content last updated in 2026; exams, retirements and prices change, so the actual details may differ. Always check the official Microsoft Learn credential pages before booking. Microsoft, Azure and Microsoft certification names are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used only to identify the subject.